


all we do (is chase the day)

by simplerushes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, Comfort, Friends to Lovers, M/M, coming together, everything is fine, hoshiumi kind of pines a lot but that's fine, hoshiumi kourai finally learns the art of falling, no but for real here are the actual tags:, there was one bed, they're both just really really soft for each other, whipped hoshiumu to the nth degree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25402360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplerushes/pseuds/simplerushes
Summary: Once, his mother had told him that the breeze is oftentimes worth the fall. He hadn’t understood what it meant until Hinata Shouyou came bouncing into his life with his wide eyes and sunset smile.(or: kourai takes hinata up on his offer and actually visits him in brazil for the holidays.)
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Hoshiumi Kourai
Comments: 24
Kudos: 175





	all we do (is chase the day)

**Author's Note:**

> timeline should be after the jackadler's match but before the olympics. 
> 
> \--
> 
> title: all we do - oh wonder
> 
> songs:
> 
> loving is easy - rex orange county  
> the only bow awake - meadows  
> fly - meadowlark  
> turns within me, turns without me - the paper kites  
> what am i here for - jade bird  
> take you home - aaron espe  
> river - joni mitchell

It’s Kageyama Tobio who breaks the news to him one breezy spring morning. They’re in the locker room getting ready for practice when he looks up from his phone and announces, “Hinata is going back to Brazil,” 

Kourai nearly drops his jacket but he holds onto it enough to at least maintain an aura of nonchalance, because what’s it to him if Hinata Shouyou leaves again? He’d left the first time, so many years ago. Had kept Kourai waiting, and--

And he realizes that he has to wait again. How long this time and how much is it going to feel like there’s an ever expanding chasm inside of him that he just can’t quite fill, no matter how hard he tries? 

His mind is going too many miles a minute and he needs to stop thinking, needs to take a breath because practice is about to start and he can’t be distracted, can’t let this throw him off his game just because of one stupid little player that he’s had his eyes on since he was sixteen years old. Kourai _won’t_ let this affect him.

Except it does because Kageyama looks at him pointedly after the very bleak announcement and says, “Hinata asked if you wanted to get dinner before he left,” 

Kourai drops his jacket then. 

“What, like, just the two of us?”

“Uh, no,” Kageyama kills whatever hopes and dreams had started to take flight inside of Kourai. He knits his brows together, already typing up a reply. “Do you want it to be just the two of you?”

 _Yes_ , a voice in Kourai’s head shrieks. 

“Of course not,” Kourai says, bristling. “Send me the details later, then.” 

If there’s a skip in his step and if he jumps much higher in practice then nobody mentions anything, which is good because Kourai is definitely not freaking out or anything. 

△

Everyone Kourai doesn’t want to be there is there for dinner. Like, literally everyone.

And by everyone it’s really just Kageyama and Ushijima, but, still. That’s too many people. 

But he doesn’t mind. It doesn’t really bother him because the fact that Hinata Shouyou is leaving again and this might just be the last time Kourai will get to see him is slowly dawning on him. 

Like the sun that sets after a particularly good day, slowly sinking into the sky until it disappears from the horizon completely. Night falls and takes over what was once a beautiful orange sky at sunset. 

Dinner isn’t messy, in fact, dinner is a pretty ordinary affair, with Hinata talking their ear off and teasing Kageyama every chance he gets. Kageyama at one point, threatens to make Hinata eat a pound of wasabi but that’s really all there is for any kind of dinner hijinks, and it’s fun. 

It’s actually really, really fun to just sit down with his teammates for a proper dinner and spend the whole time talking about nothing in particular. To be across the same young boy he’d declared a rival all those years ago. 

If anyone (Sachirou definitely) were to ask him if he expected this shocking turn of events, Kourai would simply tell him _no_ , but he is not opposed to surprises. His mother had told him once that all he needs to do in life is to walk with open hands so that he’s ready for whatever the skies might bless him with. 

Kourai looks at Hinata Shouyou across the table from him, eagerly talking about something or other that had happened to them in high school with Ushijima. Kourai drags his gaze away from Hinata and looks at his hands. He unclenches his fists and lets his fingers unfurl, palms open. 

“Is everything okay?” Hinata asks him after Kourai’s been quiet for a few beats too long.

Hinata shoots him a worried smile and Kourai allows himself one surprised little smile back and shakes his head. 

“Nothing at all.”

△

Once, his mother had told him that the breeze is oftentimes worth the fall. He hadn’t understood what it meant until Hinata Shouyou came bouncing into his life with his wide eyes and his sunset smile.

Kourai looks at Hinata now and he finally knows. 

Before they all take their separate leaves for the rest of the evening, Hinata calls out to him with a warm smile and an outstretched hand. 

He takes Hinata’s hand and shakes it, offers him a rueful smile that he hopes isn’t too frayed around the edges and says, “Don’t make me wait too long again,”

Hinata gives his hand a squeeze, his smile the eighth wonder of the world. “Maybe you should do something about it this time, then,” 

Holding Hinata’s hand sends electricity up his arm and starts a bubbling inside of his chest that he doesn’t want to acknowledge, not yet. Not after he’s done so, so well of ignoring it over the years. 

“I don’t understand,” Kourai admits, fingers clenched. Holding Hinata’s hand had been a different experience altogether and now that he isn’t, his hand feels empty. Cold. 

“Come visit me in Brazil,” Hinata says it like it’s the easiest thing there is to do. Like it’s the only answer to the deep ache that Kourai feels for him. “This time, I’ll be waiting for you.”

All his life he’s been learning how to fly. The take off had been terrifying, at first, and then exhilarating when he realized just how much more beautiful the view is from so high up. Looking at Hinata Shouyou, it almost feels like Kourai is taking off for the very first time again. 

“Okay,” Kourai says with a nod, eyes locked on Hinata’s. If he is anything then it is brave. “Don’t regret that.” 

Hinata laughs at him, actually laughs, and Kourai feels like he’s floating. 

“Never, Hoshiumi-san.”

△

The thing about playing in a team with monsters is that eventually they go and seek bigger, stronger monsters to play against. Kageyama and Ushijima go on ahead without him but that doesn’t mean Kourai is being left behind. He just has to hold the fort here.

He is strong enough, more than capable of doing it on his own. 

Which is exactly what he tells Sachirou when he finds himself home during one of his rare day offs.

“Did you just come here to cry over your teammates?” Sachirou says, rounding the counter. 

Kourai has visited him a few times before. Has seen him grow in his career. Reach heights he’d never once dreamed of reaching in volleyball. But that is okay because people have different dreams. They fall in love differently. 

“I came here for the cats,” Kourai admits, a bit too stubborn. 

Sachirou ruffles his hair. “Okay, okay, let’s go for lunch, then. I’ll show you the cats later,” 

“Good cats?” Kourai asks, following him to the door.

“The best cats,” Sachirou throws an arm around Kourai’s shoulders and draws him close to his side, his grin infectious. “But they can wait. Come tell big brother Sachirou what’s troubling you,”

“I’m older than you, asshole,” Kourai aims a weak jab at his sides but Sachirou just moves away from him. “I hate you,” 

“Sure you are,” Sachirou laughs and Kourai hates him, he really does. “And I’m sure you don’t mean that.”

The thing is, Kourai doesn’t. 

He looks at Sachirou and he sees the glory of their youth. Remembers flying for the first time, wings outstretched and never afraid of falling because there’s always someone ready to catch him on the ground. 

Kourai has fond memories of his time with his team. He misses them, is the thing. But people move on and some of them move away, and Kourai just has to come to terms with that, again and again. 

“Tell me what’s bothering you or I’ll start guessing,” Sachirou taps his chopsticks lightly on the edge of Kourai’s bowl. “And you know how I always hit the mark with that.” 

So Kourai takes in a deep breath and tells him the truth, because there is no other way around this when it comes to Sachirou, and says, “I’m going abroad for the holidays,” 

Sachirou tucks into his noodles, just nodding at him. 

“What, is that it?” Kourai asks, eyebrow raised and just the slightest bit insulted. “Like, what the fuck?”

“Geez, a guy can’t even eat anymore,” Sachirou finally says after he’s swallowed through a mouthful of ramen. “But, yeah. Okay. I’ll bite. Where are you going?”

Kourai is nervous but he isn’t afraid of this truth, even when his heart is buzz, buzz, buzzing, beating as fast as a hummingbird can fly. 

“I’m going to Brazil,” Kourai says, looking up to meet Sachirou’s gaze. There is no judgement there, no surprise at all. Just an open kindness that makes Kourai feel warm in the middle of another harsh winter. 

“Good for you,” Sachirou taps on the edge of his bowl again, a clear signal for Kourai to start eating unless he wants his noodles soggy and cold. “It will be warm there.” 

Kourai feels his throat constrict, eyes stinging. 

He thinks of Hinata Shouyou under the wide blue sky, orange hair whipping in the wind, and laughter coloring the whole world orange, red, and deep purples. The color of the sunset. 

“Yeah,” Kourai says with a smile, finally starting on his noodles. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

△

Hinata is there with a sign that says _You took your time, Hoshiumi Kourai_ and Kourai stops in the middle of the airport, hands and legs suddenly weak because he’s suddenly overcome by how much he wants to run to Hinata and just drag him close enough to bridge the years between them, until there’s nothing between them but the sound of their breathing. 

But he doesn’t. 

Kourai steadies himself and waves to Hinata, who bounces up to him and takes his hand. 

“Was that too long?” Kourai asks him, voice clipped. He doesn’t trust himself to say anything else for fear of saying too much. Of letting Hinata on. 

“It was long enough,” Hinata says as he guides him out of the busy airport. There are too many people here and Kourai has never been this far away from Japan. Never been this too far off from home. It’s almost terrifying if he wasn’t so fucking excited. 

Hinata reaches out to grab his hand, offers him a sheepish smile and a quick explanation of, “So we don’t get lost,” and that is more than enough for Kourai, really. 

He lets Hinata hold his hand and guide him through the airport. Gives Hinata’s hand a squeeze, their fingers clasped together as Kourai steps out of the chilly airport only to be met by bright blue skies and the refreshing breeze of summer.

It’s the complete opposite to what he’d left behind in Japan--winter, cold mornings, and an empty room.

Hinata tugs on his hand and they run down the street to where the cabs are. They laugh the whole way there, Hinata laughing too hard that he misses a step and trips, falling. 

But he doesn’t. Kourai doesn’t let him fall. He pulls Hinata back before that and steadies him, laughter suddenly dying when he realizes they’re standing close enough that he can actually start to count Hinata’s lashes. Can see them sweep over his cheekbones when his eyes flutter to a close, another laugh that spills past his mouth and falls right into Kourai’s open hands. 

Kourai closes his fingers around Hinata’s laugh and smiles at him because it’s hard not to be swept away by the summer breeze. 

△

Hinata’s apartment isn’t what Kourai had expected for a pro volleyball player. It’s a bit plain. Shabby, even, with only the necessities here and there. 

Hinata must notice his reaction--or lack of, probably--because he runs his fingers through his hair and grimaces, looking more sheepish than ever. 

“I know it’s not much,” Hinata explains, helping Kourai with his bags. “But it reminds me of the first time I’d ever lived alone. It’s like the home I had away from home, if that makes any sense,”

“It makes perfect sense,” Kourai tells him, inspecting the small, homey kitchen before rounding to the living room. It’s a compact space but everything is where it needs to be. 

“I have really good memories of my first time here,” Hinata explains, a shy smile on his face. 

Kourai has heard about his time in Brazil. 

Hinata Shouyou would not be where he is today without the sand and the beach and the two grueling years he’d spent on his own. 

“You don’t have to look so embarrassed,” Kourai tells him frankly. It’s not something anyone should be embarrassed about. This is a badge of honor. Proof of Hinata’s success. “I think that’s amazing,” 

_I think you’re amazing, Hinata Shouyou_ , are the words that are left unsaid on the tip of his tongue. Words that have died so many times before he’d even managed to bring them up to the center of his mind. Words that he thinks will have to be pushed down because Hinata can’t know. 

This right here between them, the friendship. A bond from a rivalry that had formed years ago is something that Kourai treasures. People call them rivals and they might be, he thinks, but they are also friends. 

He looks at Hinata and he sees a friend. There’s no way he’s going to run his mouth here and ruin that. 

“Do you really think so, Hoshiumi-san?” Hinata asks, eyes searching for something on Kourai’s face. 

For the truth. The sincerity. 

“I know so.” is all Kourai tells him.

Hinata must have found it because he smiles, a quiet smile that Kourai has rarely seen. It feels special in the way that intimate things are. 

△

If there’s any downside to this spontaneous little holiday then it’s the fact that Hinata only has one bed in his apartment. And it’s not--it’s definitely not a problem if Kourai can just convince Hinata that it isn’t but Hinata is adamant on not letting his guest who’d flown halfway across the world, and then some, to sleep on the couch.

So he sleeps on the couch and Kourai takes the bed and stares at the ceiling for a long, long time because the sheets smell a lot like Hinata and if Kourai doesn’t lose his mind by the morning then he’ll lose it the next. 

It’s _fine_. 

△

Days here are longer but Kourai feels that his time with Hinata is too short. He wants more, more, more, always.

This is the same kind of hunger he has when it comes to playing volleyball and it terrifies him that he feels this way for someone. 

Hinata, who runs down winding, busy streets with him, laughing when they get lost and absolutely smug when he manages to get them where they need to be. To the court that Hinata will start training at once the holidays are over. To a little smoothie stall that he’s loved ever since, all these years. To the beach, where the sand is warm and fine between Kourai’s toes and the breeze tastes like salt. 

A few locals recognize Hinata and he turns to them with wide smiles, waving to them and pulling Kourai along with him to introduce him in a language that he doesn’t speak. 

“Who’s this?” someone says in English and Kourai knows that much, at least. 

Hinata beams at Kourai, looking absolutely proud of him when he says, “Hoshiumi Kourai! He’s one of the best players in Japan,” 

How Hinata can say that and not expect Kourai to start flushing red, right from the base of his neck to the tips of his ears is beyond him. He ducks his head and bites down on the smile that threatens to spill over.

But Hinata catches him, nudges his elbow on Kourai’s arm and smiles. 

“He’s just like you, Ninja Shouyou,” and Kourai knows what that means. Short. Small. But it doesn’t matter. Doesn’t sting anymore. Kourai has proved his worth. 

Hinata has done the same, too, because he just laughs it off.

“You should see him play,” it’s a declaration. An announcement that sends ripples on the otherwise calm waters. Everybody who’d gathered around them reacts to that, yelling out encouragement. “Let’s play a game, Hoshiumi-san,”

And it doesn’t matter that Kourai hasn’t given beach volleyball a chance, like, a serious chance at all. Not once in his life. It doesn’t matter that he has zero experience here and would probably end up on his stomach, sand in his face and in his hair. It doesn’t matter, not when Hinata is looking at him with wide, glittering eyes and an open smile.

Hinata looks at him like Kourai is something to be proud of. 

Kourai kicks his sandals off and joins Hinata on the sand. They’re playing against a set of locals that Hinata knows. That he’s friendly enough with because they call out his homecoming to him. Looks at Kourai with the same wryness that they direct to Hinata because Hinata has learned from the sand and has come out victorious from it. 

Once, Kourai had told a reporter that he and Hinata Shouyou would be taking the world on.

The world this time is this small beach volleyball court, with a few dozen spectators around them. 

Hinata is the first to serve. He soars. 

△

“Beach volleyball is going to kill me,” Kourai complains after the match. He can still taste the sand on his tongue and he’s sure there’s still some in his hair he hadn’t managed to brush off. “I’m going to die, Hinata,” 

Hinata just rolls his eyes at him and reaches over to brush his fingers through Kourai’s hair. It’s something that takes him by complete surprise but he doesn’t draw away, just holds his breath until Hinata draws back, a satisfied smile on his face.

“I think that’s all the sand,” Hinata says, grinning. 

If beach volleyball won’t kill Kourai then that smile definitely will. 

“That was embarrassing,” Kourai admits, fingers wrapping around a cold drink their opponents had bought for them. They’d lost, of course, but they bought them drinks, anyway, because it’s not everyday you get to play with _the_ Ninja Shouyou. 

“That was fun,” Hinata takes a sip of his drink. It’s fruity. No alcohol for the both of them. Not tonight. “Doesn’t it feel like you’re playing for the very first time again?” 

Kourai hadn’t thought of that at all. The only thing on his mind during the whole game was how much he sucked on the sand. How he couldn’t jump as high--or at all, how he’d missed too many balls. Couldn’t even hit with his usual strength. Just thinking about the afternoon’s failure is enough to colour him red and pink again. 

He ducks his head.

Hinata bumps their shoulders together. 

“Let’s play again tomorrow, okay?” 

“Even if I suck?” Kourai asks, chancing a glance at Hinata. 

Hinata is already looking at him, that same small, muted smile on his face. It’s the kind of smile that pushes the rest of the world back because right now there is only Hinata’s smile and Kourai on the receiving end of it. Right now, they are the only ones who matter. 

“You’re one of the most amazing players I’ve ever seen,” if Hinata is anything then it is earnest. He reaches a hand out to him and Kourai thinks Hinata might touch his face, feel just how warm his cheeks are under the weight of his gaze but Hinata bypasses his face and instead brushes the sand off his shoulders. “I always have the time of my life whenever we play.” 

Together. Against each other. 

It doesn’t need to be said.

“Okay, okay,” Kourai relents with a nervous laugh. “ _Fine_ , I’ll play another game with you.”

Hinata’s smile is like the sun breaking through the clouds after a particularly bad storm. 

Kourai basks in the sunlight.

△

It is not long until Kourai finally gets used to the sand. 

Hinata had told him this, moments before they’d started the game: _I want to see you fly_. 

Kourai takes a running leap of faith, feels the forgiving sand beneath his feet, and then launches himself as high as he can go. He scores. 

Hinata cheers for him the loudest and Kourai drops back down to his feet planted firmly on the sand. 

He hasn’t felt that way in ages. Not since the first time he’d flown. 

This--this is another shot at starting over again. This is just like playing volleyball for the first time. 

Kourai looks over his shoulder at Hinata and grins at him, wide and beaming. 

Hinata beams right back at him.

Two bright stars. 

△

“The view is beautiful,” his mother had told him once when he was much, much younger. She’d run her fingers through his hair, a saccharine sweet smile on her face. “But the breeze will always be worth the fall. Make sure you don’t close your eyes.”

Once, the skies had been empty. Just the open blue all around him. 

Now, when Kourai looks around him, all he can see is Hinata with his beautiful wings and his summer smile, hands reaching out to the sun because Hinata is brave and unafraid. 

His mother hadn’t been wrong, not exactly. Kourai just thinks that the view from up above isn’t just simply beautiful anymore. It’s divine. 

△

They’re on their backs on the sand and staring up at the night sky. 

Kourai allows himself to think of home, if only for a split second. He thinks about how cold it must be. About his family and how they’d be spending the New Year’s. He thinks about Sachirou, too, and hopes that he isn’t overworking himself too much. Kourai even thinks about his previous teammates. All these things make him smile.

It is a barely-there smile that tugs on the corners of his lips. But it is a smile that Hinata picks up on easily. 

Hinata touches his fingers to Kourai’s face, lets it glide down the length of his nose before he presses a thumb just to the corner of Kourai’s mouth. 

“You’re thinking about something good,” Hinata is propped up on his elbow and looking down at him, hair in his eyes and his smile enough to make Kourai stupid. 

“Was just thinking about home,” Kourai says, avoiding his gaze. He starts to feel his face heat up again and this time Hinata must notice because he’s still stroking Kourai’s face gently, thumb grazing over his cheekbones. 

“Home is always good,” Hinata says, easing back down next to him. 

They’re pressed shoulder to shoulder. 

“Do you ever get homesick?” Kourai asks, voice small, timid. Like he’s afraid of what Hinata will say. 

But Hinata is never unkind, only earnest. It is the kind of earnest that wraps around people warmly. The kind that makes Kourai want for nothing more. 

“Oh, all the time,” Kourai knows without even seeing that Hinata is smiling. Can hear it easily in the way that he speaks. “But I realized something when I first came here,”

“What’s that?” Kourai turns his head to look at Hinata.

“Home is something you can take with you, wherever you go,”

Oh. 

Kourai’s eyes flutter to a close. 

He thinks of home. Of the tall mountains of Nagano. The beautiful white winters and the rivers that sparkle like crystals. He thinks of his family. Friends. He thinks of home and he sees a flash of orange. 

When he opens his eyes again, he finds that Hinata is still looking at him. Kourai holds his gaze and finds the sincerity in Hinata’s wide eyes and open face. 

Kourai reaches a trembling hand up to touch Hinata’s face, fingers pressing softly to his cheek. 

Hinata breathes in deep.

Kourai exhales. 

△

They stumble back to Hinata’s apartment after a few drinks, not enough to get them remotely drunk but perhaps just the slightest bit tipsy, if anything. 

At least, that’s what Kourai _thinks_ , anyway. 

And Kourai is still thinking straight, or he should be, but the alcohol mixed in with the safety of the evening can make anyone feel brave because he asks Hinata if he wants to use the bed tonight. 

Hinata, flushed cheeks and eyes a little bit too bright for two in the morning, bless his soul, just stares at Kourai before shaking his head. “I don’t want you to sleep on the couch,”

Kourai takes a step forward. It’s the alcohol. The two in the morning surge of confidence. Or it could very well be this small piece of home that Hinata has made for himself in a land so, so far away from Japan. 

It’s a multitude of things that pushes Kourai to close the gap between them, fingers circling around Hinata’s wrist.

“I didn’t say I was going to sleep on the couch,” 

Everything is still and quiet for a few moments before Hinata says, “If I only knew,” and it’s a coy, teasing little remark but it makes Kourai blush all the same. 

He thinks Hinata may be blushing too but the living room is dimly lit and all he can focus on is the fact that Hinata is letting him hold his hand. That Hinata hasn’t drawn away from him at all. 

“It’s not like that,” Kourai tries, a chip in his earlier bravado. “I just--just want you to be comfortable,”

Hinata slips his fingers through the spaces between Kourai’s, their palms pressing together. Warm. Electrifying. Hinata tugs on their joined hands and leads him into the bedroom, pulling Kourai into bed with him with a laugh that he smothers in Kourai’s hair. 

“I’m comfortable,” Hinata says, once they’ve managed to pull the covers over them. Hinata, with his nose pressed into Kourai’s hair and his arms around him, eyes fluttering to a close. Hinata, who’s barely a breath away. 

Kourai thinks his hands may be shaking but he doesn’t feel it anymore, not when he has Hinata pressed so close to him. Not when Kourai is so, so comfortable in a bed that’s ten thousand miles away from home. 

“Good night, good night,” Hinata whispers into his hair, fingers fluttering over Kourai’s hair. 

Kourai presses his face to Hinata’s chest and closes his eyes. “Good night, Shouyou.”

△

So they end up sharing the same bed and most of the time they start with a distance between them. It’s the sheets and the miles, and the years. It’s everything that’s been left unsaid all these years. Everything that hangs between them that they bridge easily in their sleep because Kourai always wakes up in Hinata’s arms every morning, a warmth in the center of his chest that makes him wonder if he’s ever felt truly warm before this. Before Hinata. 

Waking up to Hinata next to him every morning is enough to send him into a panic but he gets used to it. He’s terrified by how quickly he gets used to it, how he yearns for Hinata even in his sleep, searching him out in the dark until Hinata has his arms around him and pulling him close, whispering _I’m here, I’m here,_ into Kourai’s hair, pressing fleeting, sleepy little kisses to his forehead. 

Flying has always been exhilarating but lately, Kourai has found the beauty that comes after when he falls. 

“Let’s spend New Year’s at the beach,” Hinata tells him one morning, fingers brushing through Kourai’s hair and his smile inviting. Anything Hinata asks him from now until the rest of his life, Kourai thinks he will just say yes to. When the sun looks at you like you’re a star worthy enough to share the same sky with him, it’s really, really hard not to feel-- _things_. 

And Kourai knows there are feelings. Acknowledges it from inside of him. Brings it to the forefront of his mind and turns it over. He has the words for it. Knows what it means, this feeling he gets whenever he looks at Hinata. Whenever he smiles at him and Hinata smiles back, warm and golden, and breathtaking. 

But then he looks at Hinata and he wonders if Hinata knows, too. If he sees it in the sincerity of his eyes or in the quiet ways that Kourai allows himself to touch Hinata. In the cover of darkness, when all Kourai can do is trace a finger down Hinata’s cheek, feeling Hinata’s smile under his thumb before he can see it, before he hears the laugh. 

Kourai thinks he can spend all his nights like that and all his mornings like this. Just this. 

“I’ve never done that before,” Kourai tells him when Hinata shows off the sparklers he’d bought for the evening. “No, not the sparklers, _god_ , the beach, I mean,” 

“You’ll love it,” Hinata says, packing a little bag for their midnight trip to the beach. “I know just the spot that won’t be too crowded,” 

“Okay,” Kourai says, a sleepy little smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Sounds like a plan,”

“The best plan?” Hinata laughs, bumping their shoulders together. Skin on skin and their fingers brushing, sending a wave of electricity up Kourai’s arm. A warmth that is like no other. 

Kourai lets his gaze wander over Hinata’s face, takes in his eyes, and the curve of his lips. The way his hair is getting too long now, fringe hanging over his eyes. 

He reaches a hand out to brush Hinata’s hair out of his eyes.

“I mean, I guess,” Kourai says, hand falling back to his side. “Not like we have other plans or anything.” 

Hinata throws a grape at him and Kourai catches it in mid air, pops it into his mouth and grins. 

△

Traffic had stalled them and there’s only a few minutes left until the New Year but Hinata is intent on getting them there in time. They make a run for the beach, bypassing the busy streets lined with vendors and too many people and winding their way in and out of crowds until finally Hinata finds what he’s looking for.

It’s a small, secluded part of the beach behind a rock formation that separates it away from the busy strips. It’s quiet here and dimly lit but that is never a problem, not when Hinata burns as bright as the sun, warm to the touch and absolutely beautiful. 

“The view here is worth it,” Hinata says, voice louder than it needs to be. There is no need to try to speak over the noise of the crowd anymore, not when they have this corner of the beach to themselves.

Not when all Kourai can focus on is his hand in Hinata’s, palm to palm, his skin burning from the contact but also not at all because Hinata touches him softly, delicately. 

Hinata runs his fingers through Kourai’s hair every night, pulling him down into slumber without fail. Hinata has been delicate with him and all Kourai wants is to return the favor, hold him with gentle hands and keep him away from the jagged edges of the world.

But he knows he cannot do that, knows that Hinata is too strong willed to ever resist a good fight with the universe. So Kourai doesn’t hold Hinata like he’s afraid he’ll break him, afraid that he’ll extinguish his light because there is no dimming the sun. 

“Here,” Hinata moves to start rifling through his bag but there must be something in Kourai’s face because he stops, bag forgotten on the sand. 

“Hinata,” Kourai says, voice barely above a whisper. 

It feels like the entire stretch of time has passed between them and no time at all because one second Kourai is looking at Hinata and the next Hinata is surging up to him, hands thrown around Kourai’s neck and pulling him in for a kiss that makes Kourai’s toes curl and his brain just stop functioning. 

Kourai winds an arm around Hinata’s middle and brings him close until there’s nothing else between them but lips on lips and fingers tracing over cheekbones, the sound of Hinata’s soft, soft _oh_ when Kourai kisses the corner of his mouth enough to make his heart overflow. 

There is an art to kissing Hinata Shouyou that Kourai hasn’t mastered just yet but it is something he is working on because it’s exhilarating, the way one moment Kourai can kiss him closed mouth and innocent and then kiss him more thoroughly the second time he pulls him in, making sure to memorize each curve and detail that he can, like the warmth of Hinata’s lips and the way his chest flutters when Kourai touches him. 

They jump a little bit when the first firework goes off above their heads. Kourai pulls away from him but Hinata tugs him back closer, fingers running through Kourai’s hair and his smile intoxicating. 

“You mentioned a view,” Kourai says, just a little bit breathless. He thinks his lips might be on fire but then again there’s a hundred percent chance that all of him his. 

Hinata kisses him quickly on the nose and laughs, a free spirited kind of laugh that sounds a lot like the flowing river. It is refreshing. 

“I did,” the fireworks are beautiful everywhere around them and Kourai can hear people on the other side of the beach celebrating. When he closes his eyes, he can see an explosion of stars behind his eyelids. Red and purple, and orange. The color of the sky at sunset. 

When Kourai opens his eyes again, it’s to find that Hinata is still looking at him, an easy smile on his face and a sincerity in his eyes that Kourai finally, finally understands. 

“Oh,” Kourai realizes, just a beat too late. A dusty blush sweeps across his cheeks and he ducks his head in an effort to look at anywhere else but at the boy he’s been in love with for nearly ten years but Hinata tilts it back up with a finger under his chin and a cheeky grin on his face. 

This time, when Kourai kisses him again, it doesn’t feel like a flying leap of faith. It doesn’t even feel like he’s flying at all because kissing Hinata Shouyou feels like he’s falling through the clouds. 

Kourai laughs halfway through the kiss and it’s the kind of laugh that hurts because of how good it makes him feel, how happy he is. Hinata holds him through it and laughs with him, paints the New Year the color of the sunset. 

It’s beautiful. 

△

Summer in Japan is always hot and sweltering and sticky. Kourai hates the crowd, hates airports the most but not this time. 

Today, he pushes his way through the crowd of people gathered at the Arrivals and waits. 

Kourai hears Hinata Shouyou before he can even see him. 

“Kourai,” Hinata calls amidst the crowd of people, hand raised to get his attention. 

Even in a sea of strangers Kourai will always, always home in on Shouyou. 

He pushes past a group of people and stops when he sees him, orange hair a mess from the flight and smile warm and golden, calling out to him. 

Once, Kourai had hesitated. 

But not this time. 

He doesn’t even have to think about it, never second guesses himself when it comes to Shouyou, because he's one of the true things in his life. As constant as the sunset everyday. 

Kourai sprints up to him.

Shouyou meets him halfway, arms outstretched and open, and Kourai falls into him. 

**Author's Note:**

> haha hoshihina brainrot. 
> 
> lmk what you think. 
> 
> or find me on twt, whichever works: @HOSHIUMIKOURAl


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